Police Morale Survey shows marked improvement in Humberside

The Police Federation of England and Wales have today released their annual Survey of Police Pay and Morale.

The survey shows that Humberside Police has shown a significant improvement in morale over the last four years. Of the survey respondents:

35% said they had low personal morale compared to 84.5% in 2015*

*This result was the best in England and Wales, indicating Humberside Police has the highest morale among Police Officers across the 40 forces surveyed.

42% said they would not recommend a career in policing to others (86.6% in 2015)

5% said they intended to leave within the next two years (22.5% in 2015)

Police and Crime Commissioner Keith Hunter said: “The annual Police Federation national survey of morale is the latest sign of the complete turnaround in Humberside Police over the past few years under new leadership and a changed direction and approach. To go from the lowest to highest morale in such a short period is completely unprecedented and reaffirms that Humberside Police is going from strength to strength. From being perceived as the worst performing force in the country, with the worst morale, to being assessed by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate as ‘good’ in every category for the first time in its history, and then backed up by this evidence of a transformation, should reassure our public we are getting an increasingly effective and efficient service from Humberside Police.

“This morale translates into improved sickness rates and a better quality service, which means more officers available to respond to threats and calls. Sickness rates for officers have dropped to 3.8% of hours lost, which is below the national average and place us in a very favourable position of being in the top 10 best forces nationally compared to being near the bottom in 2016.

“When I wrote my Police and Crime Plan in 2016 I set some ambitious goals for Humberside Police and one of those was for the force to be seen as an employer of choice. Being so attracts and retains the best quality people and leads to better and more efficient service to the public. What better evidence could we have that that the force is well down that road. I would like to congratulate the Chief Constable and all the officers and staff, who together create the environment in which good morale breeds, for this landmark achievement that puts Humberside Police at the top nationally, where I want to see it regularly.

“From a personal perspective, I faced some criticism when I launched my Police and Crime Plan that it adopted a new approach for policing and did not just mirror what most other forces and PCCs were doing. I believed that with the right leadership a complete transformation in Humberside Police was possible, putting the public right at the forefront of consideration in delivering policing. Once the leadership of the force changed and I introduced a new approach to managing the finances, leading to an unprecedented increase in officers, that transformation has been remarkable and Humberside Police is attracting visitors from throughout the country to learn about that transformation and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner has established a new role ensuring the public voice is heard.

“All of these changes will, over time, exercise an increasingly greater pressure on crime and deliver more and more for the public. The transformation is not over yet and more work remains to improve the experience of our communities but the approach adopted, in the face of doubters, has been proven and is now paying dividends.”

Humberside Police have issued a statement which includes data from the National Report and you can read it HERE